Famous figures of Sibiu

Conrad Haas (1509-1576) 

 He was born near Vienna but in 1551 he was sent to Sibiu to handle the city’s arsenal as chief of the imperial arsenal. Sibiu’s arsenal, which is still held in the Kempel Barracks from the Arms’ Square was one of the best equipped and most modern barracks in south-eastern Europe at that time, under Hass’s management.

At Sibiu he drew-up his work about multistage rockets. This work is today considered to be the first document about rockets ever written in Europe. Haas is the first to list the principles and methods used to build rockets.

Did you know? 2009 was declared by the city of Sibiu „The Conrad Haas Year”?

Franz Binder (1824-1875)

Following the footsteps of his brother who had joined the Egyptian army, Franz Binder left his birth town of Sebeş to take a long journey. He travelled to Constantinople, Baghdad, Cairo and Khartoum where he was appointed vice-consul of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a few years later. Between 1860 and 1861 he travelled to the region of the White Nile.

During all this time he collected weapons, jewellery, musical instruments, and house objects from Minor Asia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt and Africa - valuable items which he donated to the Transylvanian Natural Sciences Society from Sibiu. The donated items are considered to be the oldest collection from the Nile region. The most important element of his collection is a 5000 years old Egyptian mummy.

Did you know? Binder’s journey was recounted by his nephew Kurt in “The Journeys and Adventures of a Transylvanian Saxon” published in 1930 but also by Franz Remmel in “Travelling over Seven Seas” published in 1984.

Johann Böbel (1824-1887)

He was one of the last masters of the bakers’ guild from Sibiu. He was elected chief of the bakers’ guild and thus became a permanent member of the City Council.

Böbel is known for his work which tells us about the old aspect of the burgh. He drew six topographic blueprints and 21 water colour paintings of all the bastions and gates and also of other monuments, most of them gone today. These blueprints and paintings are now some of the most famous archive images of Sibiu.

Did you know? Böbel’s house from Avram Iancu Street in Sibiu is one of the oldest houses from Sibiu’s historic centre and is still very well preserved

Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843)

He was born at Meissen, he studied at Leipzig, Vienna and Erlangen and specialised in medicine. For two years he settled in Sibiu, contracted by Baron Samuel von Brukenthal as a librarian and personal physician. In this period Hahnemann started to experiment with his new medical method - homeopathy.

He drew-up numerous specialised works, the most important being “The Organon of the Healing Art” published in 1810, which sets the foundation of the theory of homeopathy.